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PUBLIC CHAPTER NO. 98
SENATE BILL NO. I266
By Norris
Substituted
for: House Bill No. 339
By Moody
AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 65, Chapter 4, Parl1, relative to the jurisdiction
of the Tennessee Regulatory Authority over certain investor-owned electric power providers
providing services to certain Tennessee residents.
WHEREAS, Tennessee law, as well as the law of other states, typically requires investorowned utility companies to have their rates reviewed and approved by the Tennessee Regulatory
Authority or comparable state public utility regulators; and
WHEREAS, Entergy Arkansas, lnc. is one such investor-owned electric utility company
which serves more than 725,000 customers in Arkansas and the company's rates for its Arkansas
customers are subject to review and approval by the Akansas Public Service Commission; and
WHEREAS, most school children know the Mississippi River serves as the western border of
Tennessee and the eastern border ofArkansas; and
WHEREAS, many school children and adults know that the Mississippi Rive/s course is
extremely sinuous and often changing; and
WHEREAS, case law has shown an appreciation for constancy in our borders, even when
river avulsions have led to rapid changes in the course of the Mississippi River; and
WHEREAS, one such rapid change in the Mississippi Rivels course occurred in only two
days in 1876 and made land once attached to Tipton County, Tennessee, attached to Mississippi
County, Arkansas; and
WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court in the 1918 case of Arkansas v. Tennessee
has addressed this issue and held that the boundary continues as it was before the 1876 avulsion of
the Mississippi River; and
WHEREAS, Arkansas utility providers, including Entergy Arkansas, have continued to serve
approximately eight Tipton County, Tennessee, customers on the western side of the Mississippi
River; and
WHEREAS, the electricity service for these Tipton County, Tennessee, customers requires
that Entergy Arkansas obtain approval of these rates by the Tennessee Regulatory Authority even
though such rates have already been approved by the Arkansas Public Service Commission for the
similarly situated customers of Entergy Arkansas in Arkansas; and
WHEREAS, this rate review and approval process imposes a significant cost to the utility
provider; now, therefore,
BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE:
SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 65-4-104, is amended by designating the
existing language as subsection (a) and by adding the following new subsection:
(bX1) Any investor-owned electric power company serving Tennessee customers on
the western side of the Mississippi River shall provide those Tennessee customers
sB 1266
with the same level of service and charge the same rates as the power company
provides and charges similarly situated customers in Arkansas.
(2) Upon a finding that an investor-owned electric power provider has
engaged in unjust or unreasonable discrimination in service or rates in violation of
subdivision (bX1), the authority may order changes in the provide/s services or rates
to those Tennessee customers as necessary to enforce subdivision (b)(1).
(3) The authority's jurisdiction over an investor-owned electric power company
serving Tennessee customers on the western side of the Mississippi River is limited
to hearing a complaint alleging a violation of subdivision (bX1) and granting
appropriate relief as provided in subdivision (b)(2).
(4) Nothing in this subsection (b) removes the duty of any investor-owned
electric power company to pay any required inspection and supervision fee to the
authority as required by title 65, chapter 4, part 3.
(5) Nothing in this subsection (b) removes the duty of any investor-owned
electric power company to pay its otherwise appropriate Tennessee state or local
taxes.
SECTION 2. This act shall take effect July 1 ,2017, the public welfare requiring it.
2
SENATE BILL
PASSED:
NO. I266
March 20,2017
RANDY M
SPEAKER OF THE
ALLY
TE
BETH HARWELL, SPEAKER
OF REPRES E N TAT IVE S
H O US E
APPROVED this
4{þ
day of
,4 ri I
BILL HASLAM, GOVERNOR
2017